Road Closure - 23 March to 27 March 2009

We have received notice that Suffolk County Council intends to make an order for the closure of Brandeston Road at Brandeston and Cretingham to enable them to carry out carriageway repairs.

Provision will be made for passage at all times by pedestrians and cyclists. The alternative route for vehicles will be via C301 The Street – Swan Lane – C235 to Brandeston and vice versa.

It is intended that the closure will be in operation from 23 March 2009 to 27 March 2009 – or longer if necessary.

I will be putting up the formal SCC notice at the hall entrance.

A M Hounsell

Clerk to Brandeston Parish Council

BRANDESTON PARISH COUNCIL

Statement of Brandeston Parish Council Response to the SCDC LDF Consultation

Brandeston Parish Council wishes to comment upon the Core Strategy Document. As part of the emerging LDF system the Parish of Brandeston  prepared a Parish Plan which was submitted to the Chief Executive of SCDC on 10 November 2008 (receipt acknowledged on 13 November 2008) and to the Head of Planning Services, also on 10 November 2008 (receipt acknowledged on 09 January 2009).

The Parish Council  response to the Core Strategy Document (as stated below) represents the views of the village as set out in the Parish Plan and reaffirmed at an open parish meeting on 11 February 2009 attended by representatives of the Parish Council, villagers and SCDC Forward Planning Officer, Steven Brown.

SP2 (Supporting) - Brandeston Parish Council support the proposed identification of a Settlement Hierarchy which emphasises the concentration of larger scale development in and around Major Centres and classifies lesser settlements  within a hierarchy which will be used in determining the scale of development appropriate to any particular location. The Parish Council support the designation of Brandeston Village as a Local Service Centre and support the adoption of the Settlement Hierarchy as set out in Appendix 1 to the Core Strategy Document.

SP11 (Supporting) - Brandeston Parish Council support the strategy for Local Service Centres as set out in policy SP11. The Parish Council wish to retain the existing defined physical limits to the village and strongly support the retention of those physical limits, the designation of Conservation Areas and Areas to be Protected from Development  as they relate to Brandeston Village and as currently detailed within the Suffolk Coastal Local Plan adopted document. The Parish Council further support the extension of the designated Special landscape Area to include field enclosures bounding the northern side of the village which are considered visually important and which benefit from public access via nearby footpaths, bridleways and unclassified roads

A M Hounsell

Clerk to Brandeston Parish Council

Brandeston Parish Meeting - 11 February 2009

Mark Hounsell - RFO Brandeston Parish Council

This meeting will cover a very important subject for the future of Brandeston and I have arranged for representatives of Suffolk Coastal District Council to be present to provide explanation of the “classification” of Brandeston and the practical effect upon the village and its future. I have also asked them to be prepared for a question and answer session. This is an extract from the latest Parish Council minutes which outlines the issue:

 “[The Local Development Framework (LDF)] proposes to put a large part of the new housing in the district to the year 2021 in the Martlesham and Felxtowe/Trimleys areas. In the Preferred Options, the villages of Kettleburgh, Brandeston, Charsfield, Easton and Cretingham are all classified as “local service centres” despite their paucity of facilities. The implication of this is that within the defined physical limits (which may be a different boundary from today’s) development is permitted, but limited to small groups of housing and infill, with one in 3 (in the case of 3 or more in a single development) being affordable homes.  If an argument could be successfully made to reduce a village classification to “Other Village”, there would be no physical limits and the presumption would be against development (with some exceptions, including “affordable” homes), much the same as in the “countryside”. The document to be released for consultation will need very careful analysis in this respect.”

We will have the projector in use to display the documents and, in particular, the map showing potential development areas in our village.

A good turnout will help the parish council in their consideration of their response to the district council and enable them to fully understand the wishes of the village.

Proposed development area in Brandestom ...

... and in Kettleburgh.

Consultation on Suffolk Coastal Local Development Framework

Covering letter describing the consultation process.

The referred document above is currently going around the Parish Council members and the Parish Plan steering Group as part of a consultation process which will end on 16 February 2009. There will be other people in the village who will be interested and so the following link should be followed:

www.suffolkcoastal.gov.uk/yourdistrict/planning/review/default.htm

The Parish Council encourages everyone to look at these documents and forward any thoughts to Parish Council members.

David Risk

Chairman Brandeston Parish Council

16 December 2008

Update - 19 December 2008

The Parish Council will hold a Council meeting specifically to discuss this subject at the village hall at 8:00 pm on 11 February 2009. All residents are encouraged to attend to express their views directly to the Council.

Should you not be able to attend the meeting, please ensure that your views are made known to Parish Council members or to the Clerk (Mark Hounsell, tel: 01728 685357, email mark @fairfields.plus.com)

Brandeston Parish Plan

At the Brandeston Parish Council meeting on 12 November 2008, the Council were delighted to formally receive the Brandeston Parish Plan prepared by the Steering Group. The Council thanked the Group for their efforts in producing a superb document and were pleased to pass on the complimentary remarks of our District and County Councillors.

The Council has carried out a preliminary assessment of the document from which it is clear that the wish most strongly expressed by residents for the future is that Brandeston should remain unchanged. This will be the primary initial focus of the Council’s response to the Plan. In particular, the Council will take full account of these views when responding to the Suffolk Coastal District Council Local Development Framework Core Strategy Document which will be published shortly. This latter document includes proposals for future housing developments in the Suffolk Coastal District.

However, the Council intend to react to all possible areas, within their remit and responsibilities, set out in the Plan. In view of the very considerable number of these and their very widespread coverage, the Council is seeking volunteers to assist. This is an opportunity for residents to play a significant role in keeping Brandeston the desirable place to live that the Plan shows is your overwhelming view. You can contact me on 01728-685357 or email : mark@fairfields.plus.com

The next Parish Council meeting will be held on 21 January 2009 at 8.00 pm at the village hall. All residents are encouraged to attend.

Mark Hounsell

Clerk to Brandeston Parish Council

Drain Pain - The End of the Flood?

Mark Hounsell

Your Parish Council, like many parishioners, has been very concerned for quite a  long time at the poor drainage at the western end of The Street. In fact, the Council has been pressing this matter with the Highways Department of Suffolk County Council for over 18 months. This has involved the Council sending more than 20 communications to the County Council.

The failure of service by SCC resulted in the matter being referred to their complaints procedure but this only resulted in your Parish Council being advised of the work which had already been undertaken (and proven to be ineffective) and notification of the work which it was intended would be executed in the future.

When no further progress arose, your Parish Council’s patience finally snapped.

It would now seem that, with assistance from our County Councillor, Peter Bellfield, some effective works will be undertaken – witness the completion of a new manhole at Fred Mugglestone’s driveway with more works to follow.

As they say – “Watch this space.”

Annual parish meeting - 14 May 2008

Was the high turnout at the annual meeting of the Parish Council because of the air traffic control changes which are threatening the village with the noisiest skies since the helicopters went over earlier in the day? Or was it the presentation of the responses to the survey for the Parish Plan? Perhaps it was going to be the flood in the road every time we have a shower of rain. It was, in reality, none of these - it was the threatened removal of the phone box and it allowed the democratic process to kick into action for the first time for a while with an exciting public vote.

David Risk (pictured below with Mark Hounsell) dealt with the flooding in The Street at the start of the meeting. We were told of work to be done to clear a drain in The Cottage which should solve the problem – assuming the blockage is there. Let’s hope the engineers are right as water has a tendency to show itself a long way from any blockage.

The biggest crime wave to hit Brandeston in the last year, we were told by Mary Thompson, our police Community Support Officer, comprised the morning and evening flows of 4x4s speeding in The Street to and from the school. That aside, we were a crime-free area - although the parish plan survey suggested that there was some vandalism.

Nick Hayward’s presentation of the responses to the survey showed some interesting facts. The preliminary analysis showed that we use cars to travel and that a lot of us are over 50. It suggested that Mutton Lane is less tidy than any other part of the village and that any new homes should be built elsewhere, preferably London, according to one respondent. In summary, the consensus seemed to be that Brandeston should remain more or less as it is now.

And so to the phone box: BT intends to remove it because it is not used and anyone who needs to use it would have to have a credit card as it no longer takes coins. People thought that the old red phone box would have been more in keeping with the village - but of course it would still not be used.

The days of most phone boxes were numbered when every home installed a phone (which 108 people thought worked really well). Then mobiles came along (which don’t work well in Brandeston) and village phone boxes were all but dead (Brandeston people are generally in good health) and buried (the survey had no questions on the village’s graveyards). It seems that our phone box serves just one useful purpose in the village (charming and a friendly place to live but lacks a house of ill repute) – it allows John King to tell his guests exactly where his house is. The meeting didn’t think that this was a good enough reason to keep the phone box and so the Parish Council (efficient and manage the village well) will not oppose its removal.

Village Hall AGM - 29 November 2007

It was a case of all change at the AGM last Thursday. Steve Williams (right), the treasurer for the last 18 years had decided to take a break and didn’t put himself forward for re-election. Steve had been treasurer of the old hut and had taken care of the financial dealings with the Lottery while the new hall was being built. He leaves the hall committee just after the Lottery Fund have signed off on the hall saying that they are entirely happy with everything and that the hall was being run professionally. A vote of thanks was proposed from the floor for Steve’s hard work spanning three decades.

Just over twenty people attended the meeting and heard that the hall finances were in good shape. There was a theoretical loss because of the amount of money being put aside for depreciation but the outgoing committee, supported by the meeting, was satisfied that  the hall was financially sound. We heard that, on average, about £100 was coming in every week from hire fees.

The meeting was also told that snagging (correcting various building issues) had been completed. Mark Hounsell had been driving this on behalf of the committee and was thanked for his efforts.

There was a grant of about £3000 available for a play area project and the management committee will wait for the results from the Parish Plan questionnaire before deciding on what to spend it.

With Steve not standing, Nick Holland-Brown became the new treasurer, Sue Thurlow the new secretary and Darryl Morgan the new chairman. Sam Tassera had resigned as events co-ordinator but the role will be taken on by the committee until a volunteer steps forward.

The draft minutes of the meeting will be available soon.

Photos MP&D

Parish Council Meeting - 14 November 2007 at 8:00 pm

Did you know that every parishioner is free to attend Parish Council meetings? There are, however, restrictions on when you can speak but the chairman of the Brandeston council usually allows parishioners to do so by adjourning the formal meeting and then reconvening it.

To improve the flow of the meeting, the council has changed its process a little so that comments from visitors can be taken in a ten minutes period of open discussion before the meeting formally starts. Why not attend the next meeting yourself? The agenda for the meeting can be seen by clicking here. The first item of the agenda is the presentation of the runner-up award for the  the Suffolk Village of the Year competition.

The approved minutes are public documents and can be accessed further down this page (click here).

Annual Parish Meeting - 25 April 2007

This year’s annual parish meeting was once more dominated by the old favourites – speeding traffic and flooding in the street. Seventeen villagers were present to hear chairman David Risk explain the new measures introduced by the police to control speeding, and to debate the continuing problem of where rainwater should go each time a garden is paved over or a new curb is installed on the road.

It was accepted that the new kerb outside the village hall has probably played a part in diverting rainwater further down the street, and Don Evans reported that on at least one occasion his garage has been flooded as a result. The following debate was concerned with how serious a problem this is likely to be in the long term and David Risk asked to be kept informed of any further flooding problems on which the parish council had not been briefed.

The Village Plan

16 April 2007

A public, parish meeting took place on 16 April at the village hall to discuss whether we should develop a village plan. Following a presentation from John Bell from Suffolk ACRE, the meeting was opened for general discussion and what a lively event it turned out to be! With 40 villagers in the meeting, there was some criticism of the Council for bringing people out under false pretences as several thought that the village was being threatened by street lighting amongst other things. However, the Council defended itself by pointing at the number of people in the meeting and their interest in the future of the village - which was exactly the purpose of the meeting.

It was clear that most people did not understand what the Council wanted from them which was, essentially, agreement to form a village plan. Some councillors had the same concern and there were comments from villagers about being railroaded into a decision. In the end, one comment from the floor seemed to sum up the objective: it was better to have a plan for the future than not. The two-hour meeting was eventually brought to an end with a vote agreeing to move to the next stage - we will put in place the first steps to creating the plan. Volunteers to form a team were sought and anyone interested should make themselves known to the Parish Council. Formal minutes from the meeting will be available here soon. Click here for more photos.

Notes from the Parish Council

See Parish Council Minutes, 6 December 2006, below

1. The parish council is considering whether to request changing the name of "Low Street" to "Lower Candy" - a much older name used for that location. The council will be seeking the views of all those who would be affected.

2. At the last parish council meeting, PC Burt of Framlingham Station mentioned the increase in car break-ins in rural Suffolk and urged everyone to always ensure that their cars were secured. Also, he mentioned that a Suffolk Police crime prevention officer (PC Steve Barratt, based at Southwold but contactable through a central phone no. 01473 613500) could visit parishioners for a free household security audit.

3. The council has arranged a meeting for all parishioners at the village hall on Monday, 16 April 2007 to discuss the parish's contribution to the forthcoming Local Development Framework. This Framework will be a major influence on future developments in Suffolk, including, of course Brandeston. Therefore it is most important that residents make their views known. Further details will be issued shortly.

4. The council is entering our village in the Suffolk Coastal District Council Village of the Year competition. Judgement in based on a number of factors such as village activities, appearance and tidiness, support for disadvantaged etc. etc.

5. Future meeting dates are 16 April at 8.00 pm (see above) 25 April at 8.00 pm (Annual Parish Meeting)